Everything is on track. Facility is a behind but an elevator expense in December will bring us up to budget. Revenue from Friends of VPCS will be coming in for the Holyoke school based on our collaborative space and services agreement. David asked about government grants coming in higher than expected and how these are managed. Rachel explained. 

Rebecca presented suspension data, there have been only two suspensions to date. This is awesome! Veritas continues to reduce discipline rates beyond suspensions. We track out of class referrals and these are also down. We have low discipline rates while the culture of the school is strong and positive. Expectations are very high and students are being well supported. One take away from the compensation and sustainability study is that the school needs to have a set and stable curriculum. This is a priority for us moving forward.

David introduced Ann Erichetti and the board was enthusiastic about her joining us. 

Rachel reviewed the advocacy agenda and the board discussed the two focus areas and targeted fixes. 

Rebecca shared an overview of the webinar and shared headlines. The webinar, hosted by Erica Brown and Kerri Urban, shared best practices that board's should be implementing to ensure the highest quality governance and management of the school leader and shared resources we can use. We are already implementing most of these practices, such as staff members attending board and committee meetings and evaluating our Executive Director. There are a couple of ways we could take things to the next level and we will being to implement some of these improvements moving forward. 

Dale is kicking off Rachel's evaluation and will be reaching out to other trustees to lead the process. Moving forward Dale suggests that we start a new committee, the executive director evaluation committee, that will be responsible for the ongoing review of the E.D. Dale proposed a two person committee and will be enlisting two trustees who will lead this process, conducting reviews throughout the year. This process will be more similar to how everyone in the organization is managed, with more frequent and ongoing feedback.

Rachel shared a speaking opportunity she has been invited to with the board.

Aaron shard an update about private school apps and solicited the board for their support. Aaron and Greg took 12 Veritas Prep students, who have all taken the SSAT exam, to Northfield Mount Herman to visit the campus and learn more private schools. Each of these students is highly motivated to apply to a private high school. The students had a tour of the school and met with the Director of Admissions who gave a motivating talk.  Cost of admission is $63k/year and 30% are on financial aid, a small amount of students at NMH get a full scholarship. Aaron asked the board to contribute to this cause, to match $1,000 donation that Rachel already has earmarked to this cause. You can make a check payable to Friends of VPCS to be dedicated to this cause.